The City of Cape Town, South Africa is using recycled materials to construct a new multipurpose center at the Helderberg Nature Reserve. The center, due to be completed by June 2021, has a horse-shoe shape and faces the Helderberg mountain. The Helderberg Nature Reserve will provide benefits include education, recreation, tourism, job creation and skills … Read more
Greensburg, a farming community in southwestern Kansas with a population of 900 rebuilt “green” after a tornado barreled through at more than 200 miles per hour and nearly wiped it off the map in 2007. Now Greensburg gets all of its electricity from a wind farm, has an energy-efficient school, medical center, city hall, library, … Read more
It was in 1967 that the first Trombe wall was implemented in France. The system, named after engineer Felix Trombe, combines glass and a dark, heat-absorbing material to conduct heat slowly into the house. The standard Trombe wall places glass approximately 1 to 2 inches from a 4 to 16 inch thick dark masonry wall, … Read more
When Cyclone Amphan tore through Bengal, India, Linus Kendall and Rupsa Nath’s house, built with mud, thatch and bamboo sustained minimal damage. Other houses in the vicinity suffered broken window panes or missing tin sheds, but their unique home stood tall. Fondly christened ‘Kancha-Paka’ (Raw and Ripe), the Swedish-Bengali couple’s home has some conventional elements, … Read more
Welcome to the Jungle House was designed by one of Australia’s champions of sustainable architecture, Clinton Cole. It generates its own electricity, warms and cools itself, provides its own water and food – including fish, vegetables, eggs and honey – powers its own car, is smothered in greenery and is in the middle of inner-city … Read more
The East Wind Community is hidden deep in the Ozarks of southern Missouri and calls itself an “income-sharing, egalitarian community”. They have 1,145 acres of largely undeveloped highland forest. There are 27 buildings and structures, including four large dormitories, nine personal shelters, a kitchen and dining facility, an automobile shop, a nut butter manufacturing plant … Read more